Men’s Soccer’s second-half surge falls short in SAC Quarterfinal at Lenoir-Rhyne

Hickory, N.C. —- The sixth-seeded Catawba College men's soccer team cut their halftime deficit to a single goal in the second half, but could not connect on the equalizer, falling 2-1 at third-seeded Lenoir-Rhyne in the quarterfinal of the South Atlantic Conference Men's Soccer tournament Sunday night.

TEAM STATS

- Catawba out-shot Lenoir-Rhyne 15-14

- The Bears held the edge in shots on goal 8-4

- LR had three of the five corner kicks on the night

- Catawba received five of nine yellow cards in the match; LR had the lone red card

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

- Salano Birch scored Catawba's lone goal with a pair of shots on target

- Sebastia Cerda-Tous logged Catawba's other two shots on goal

- Zak Stiffler made six saves in goal

- Joe Allerton recorded four shots in his return from injury

HOW IT HAPPENED

FIRST HALF

- Ivan Rubio forced Stiffler to make a save in the fourth minute

- The Bears struck first on Colton Eliasen's score in the fifth minute

- LR doubled their lead in the 32nd minute on Harri Rowe's goal directly off a free kick

- Cerda-Tous' try for goal was saved by the Bears' keeper just two minutes later

SECOND HALF

- Stiffler stepped up for saves in the 49th and 50th minutes

- Birch cut the LR lead in half in the 55th minute to give the Catawba Indians life

- Birch and Cerda-Tous forced the LR keeper into saves two minutes apart

- Catawba could not put a shot on target for the final 23 minutes

- The Catawba Indians out-shot LR 12-6 in the second half

UP NEXT

- Catawba awaits its postseason fate with the NCAA Division II Men's Soccer Tournament selection show next week